Province Orders Composter to Remove Material

A Winnipeg area composting company has been ordered by the province to stop accepting the odour-ridden material within the next 30 days.

Samborski Environmental Ltd. operates a garden supply and commercial composting site in the RM of Macdonald just off McGillivray Boulevard, but has faced opposition in recent years from residents living in the area who complain of the site’s odour.

Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship has issued an environmental protection order against the business, demanding it remove all compost from the facility in the next month. If the company doesn’t comply, the province will remove the compost from the site to ensure the environmental impacts are properly managed.

The province has been working with Samborski Environmental for five years to find a more suitable location for its operations. Last August, the company agreed to divert all incoming material to a licensed facility near Winkler and to suppress odours at the McGillivray site. Odours were continually monitored at the site, and paired with a slew of complaints, found that odour reduction wasn’t achieved. The province says more than 400 complaints have been received about the company as of this month.

Environmental protection orders are issued to prevent or mitigate the effects pollutants may have on the environment and human health.